New Beginnings
by Lee4892
Summary: Story 1 in CSI:NY Roleplaying Community thread series. Homicide Detective Miranda 'Randi' Carter and new CSI Jess Tyler begin their first day in the New York labs.


Our Roleplaying Community has come up with some great storylines over the past year that we've been online and so I thought I'd transfer them into fanfics for you guys to enjoy. We still have lots of free places for members within the group and urge anyone that's interested to come check it out. The link is on my profile.

These fanfics can be read as one shots or as a complete story.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I am not affiliated with CSI: NY, its producers or it's writers. I do not own any of the characters from the show but do own Miranda 'Randi' Carter and Jay Caffey. All other characters have been created by the wonderful members of CSI: NY Roleplaying Community.

Please Read and Review.

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Miranda Carter stepped out of her Red Porche wearing tight fitting grey tracksuit pants and a tight fitting low cut pink top. Pulling her dark sunglasses off, she pinned them to the band of her pants before glancing up at the building in front of her. She sighed as she locked the car door and pressed the alarm button on her key ring 'welcome home' she muttered to herself.

She smirked, eyes squinting in the bright sunshine. Shielding her eyes with one hand, she glanced up the street at the approaching man "Oi Oi here he comes, man of the hour." She chuckled as Danny Messer enveloped her in a tight hug "…and here's me thinking you didn't cuddle" she teased pushing him away "Get off, someone might see" she smirked

"You care that someone might see?" Danny said, grinning. "I have no problem with cuddling. It depends on the person who's standing in front of me." He twinkled at her. "Let's go inside." Danny suggested.

Miranda agreed and the two of them made their way up to the building. Danny walked beside Miranda and took a look on her. He never remembered that she had ever looked that beautiful before. Miranda seemed to notice his look.

"Course I do Messer, can't let the new boys see me with you" she smirked. She laughed as she nodded and followed him inside"Now now Danny boy, your new girl might get jealous if she heard comments like that" she told him as she looked around the lab. Her new home. She smirked at the thought.

She turned and caught Danny looking her up and down. She playfully pretended to close his mouth"The 'girls' ain't for you to look at"

Jess wandered into the lab, showing the appropriate ID in order to do so. Although she attempted to give off an appearance of knowing what she was doing and where she was going, it was hardly a resounding success as, to be honest, she really wasn't sure of either. Taking a deep breath, she went over to where she saw two figures in conversation and waited for an appropriate moment for her to interrupt.

Almost immediately, such a moment came and Jess stepped forward. "Sorry to bother you," she spoke quietly in her English accent that had just recently mutated itself to include a hint of an American twang, "but I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction - I'm a new CSI here..." Jess trailed off, hopeful that either one of the two would step in to help out.

Randi quickly turned from Danny to face the woman "Hi ya" she smiled "Well Danny boy here is hopefully showing me the way here so you can join us" she grinned and held out her hand to Jess "Randi Carter, my first day too" she smiled sweetly scrunching her nose up

"Jess Tyler," Jess allowed a faint smile to cross her lips as she warmly shook Randi's hand, "pleased to meet you." There were at least a dozen questions going through Jess' uneasy mind, but, for now, she let them slide; simply now using her energy to try to find her feet in this place.

"Danny Messer. How you're doin'?" Danny said and decided to give Jess a smile.

He took a closer look at the new CSI. Her hair was a beautiful blond and her eyes were unbelievably nice. "Two beautiful women around here in one day. I'm the luckiest guy in the world."

Jess blushed at Danny's comments, self consciously flicking her hair behind her ears and fidgeting slightly from foot to foot whilst saying 'Jess' in answer to Randi's question.

"So... erm... you two are CSIs as well?" she questioned, eager to move on with the conversation.

Randi smiled softly at her and shrugged her nervousness off as shyness in the girl. She'd let Danny worry about making her comfortable, Randi wasn't the 'touchy feely' type. "Mr. Messer here is, I'm a homicide Detective, but I'll be working CSI sometimes though, when I can"

Jess nodded, consciously trying to relax herself in order to make good impressions with both Danny and Randi. Conversation seemed to have dried up between the three of them. Silence suited Jess fine, but she knew it wasn't going to be the way forward. As such, she attempted to rekindle conversation. "So... are there any big cases at the moment?"

"No, it's silent at the moment. But God knows, what will up tomorrow. This city is full of freaks" Danny said, smiling at Jess. He hoped he could make her an easy start in this. Miranda, he knew, would make her way into it alone. She was pretty strong, but Jess seemed less self-confident at the moment. "So ladies, you want a tour around?" Danny asked.

Randi nodded at Jess' question "Yeah. Let's hope it's not as boring as hell huh?" she smirked

"Okay Messer I know you're just dying to show off your 'home'..." She motioned to the building "...so lets get it over with, but...We need a tour of all our co-workers too, specifically our male co-workers" she smirked

Jess smiled, eager to see her new place of work and to meet more of her new colleagues. "Yeah, a tour sounds great."

"Male co-workers? Do I have to talk to Mac about that?" Danny said in a serious tone. "He doesn't allow relationships within his team. Keeps them away from the real work."

Danny was smiling inside. To his mind, it was real fun to make fun of the new ones. Like he had done with Lindsay, he now did with Jess and Randi.

"Um huh" Randi nodded before glancing at Danny and smirking"That depends...is Mac hot?" she smiled her excited smile, her eyes full of mischief as always "Relationships don't keep you away from work, that's just silly..." Randi smiled at a shy lab tech with brown hair and waved "hi ya" before turning back to Danny and Jess "That is unless you're you and you can't keep your mind on the job and off the cute little girl from Montana"

"Hey, Randi. It was a joke. But forget Mac. His wife died on 9.11 and he isn't really ready for anything new, you know?" Danny explained. "But if you want to meet a nice guy, let's go and find Hawkes. He was ME and joined our investigator team some time ago. You'll like him and if not I can introduce you to Don." Danny said.

She smirked "I know it was a joke Messer, You hardly think I take anything you say to heart now do you?" she scrunched up her nose and shook her head "I don't do ..._nice_"she smirked "That's why you did just fine"

"Stop talking like this, Randi" Danny said. He didn't want Jess to get a wrong impression from him. She hadn't said anything for a while, so Danny decided to lead her back in the conversation.

"What you've been doing before coming to the CSI?" He asked Jess.

Randi giggled making a face at Jess and smirking as Jess smirked "Not what you said 'a long time ago on the Island Mr. Messer" Randi chuckled before walking away from him and Jess "I'll catch you guys later" she smiled and waved before making her way off towards one of the back rooms to check the building out for herself

"Okay, what do you say to coffee in our canteen? There we can sit down and get to know each other a bit better. There might be something you want to know about the things going on here." Danny said and smiled at Jess. He hoped that he could make her an easy start here with getting to know him a bit better. It's always good to have a friend around, he thought.

Jess grinned, having been happy to simply watch the exchange between Randi and Danny.

"I've had a few months training with the PD, but I only arrived here from the UK just under a year ago. But yeah, coffee sounds great."

She walked with Danny to the canteen, less tongue-tied and very pleased to have found such a friendly face.

They arrived at the canteen and Danny opened the door for Jess. He got some coffee and sat down at a table with Jess.

"So you're from the UK? What made you to come over to the states and join the PD?"

Jess shrugged, "I guess I wanted a bit of a change of scenery. Spent a year out in the US as part of my degree and really liked it over this side of the pond." She shrugged again, showing that even she couldn't really explain why she had moved out here. "So what about you, how'd you come to be working in this place?"

"I was playing baseball and wanted to become a professional player. But then i hurt my back pretty bad so I couldn't go on with baseball. After hospital I went directly to the police academy. Some time later Mac Taylor asked me to join his investigator team here." Danny told her and remembered how hard it had been for him to leave the baseball.

Jess nodded, listening intently as Danny spoke and occasionally sipping her coffee. She could sense Danny's moment of reflection and, as such, decided to change tact somewhat to something more light-hearted.

"Back home it was usually the done thing that any newbie would buy the first round. If there's a decent pub or bar around and there would be people up for it tonight I was thinking..." Once again she trailed off, punctuating her sentence with a final shrug. "I mean, if people were busy or there were other plans..."

"There's a bar where we like to sit and have one or two drinks sometimes. I think that would be a good place. We can ask the others, but I think they will join us anyway." Danny thought of the bar where the whole team had been after they had solved the case of Aiden's death.

"So you have any experience with crime scenes so far? Or were you just chasing some 'bad guys' through the streets?" Danny asked.

"Zilch on the crime-scenes and not that much more on the chasing of the 'bad guys'." Jess half-smiled as she spoke, realizing how excited she really was about the prospect of really getting stuck into the job. "I think that they call it learning on the job!"

"Don't worry, we all made our experiences outside. Our ex-ME Hawkes made his way just out of experiences on the job. You will get used to all the things. If you need help, just ask me. I'll be there." Danny tried to encourage her. "You want some more coffee?"

Randi chuckled as she made her way back to the room Danny and Jess were in after going on her own tour around the building "Honey I'm home" she smirked at Danny before smiling at Jess

"I've got a date Messer" she sung pinching his cheek as she sat back down at the table and took his coffee cup from in front of him and drinking from it "Zack" she grinned "What's the low down?"

"No, I'm fine thanks," Jess smiled at Danny, politely refusing his offer of more coffee. She turned her eyes to Randi as she entered the room with what seemed to be her usual energy levels.

"I'll... erm... leave you guys to it? I should probably find either Detective Taylor or Bonasera; I think that's who I was told to find when I got here..."

"Mac's office is down the corridor, third door on the right. If he's not there, follow the floor 'till the end. The last room on the left is Stella's." Danny explained, but when he saw Jess being a little confused, he added. "I can show you the way, if you want me to."

Randi hit him upside the head "Be a gentleman and go show the girl. Just like your mommy thought you" she added as an after thought smirking as she poured herself a cup of coffee "I'll get the low down on the lab tech later"

Jess tried to mentally follow Danny's directions, but in reality was as confused as the expression on her face suggested.

"I don't want to stop you two... I'm sure I can find it," she initially suggested, planning on asking someone on her way to find her new boss. When, however, Randi insisted on Danny showing the way, she couldn't help but feel a sense of relief. It wasn't that she wanted to be babysat, but she would rather that than be totally lost.

"I show you the way, Jess. It's no problem. Just follow me inconspicuously" Danny said and tried to cheer Jess up a bit.

Danny and Jess left the canteen and went the direction Danny had explained before.

"You don't need to be nervous. Mac is a nice guy unless you do something illegal. Don't worry, you two will get along with each other."

Jess grinned; Danny seemed like a good guy. She happily followed his lead, taking in the lab as she went. It was far bigger than she had expected, but still it felt fresh and homely. "It's quite a place here.." she spoke, partially to herself and partially to Danny. As they approached Mac's office, Jess listened to what Danny had to say before chipping in herself.

"How'd you know I'm not going to do something illegal!?" she smirked, beginning to lighten up

"Well, you just don't look like a person who would. That's all" Danny said and smiled at her. It seemed like Jess became a bit more relaxed now.

"So what will you do after you talked to Mac?"

Jess shrugged, still smiling, "Whatever I'm told, I guess!" As they reached the door of Mac's office, Jess took a deep breath. "Guess this is my stop then..."

Without further ado, she went inside to be briefed by Mac. Thankfully it didn't take long and before she knew it she was back outside with instructions to find someone about the lab to shadow for the rest of the day; just to get a feel of things.

Randi was looking over a newspaper as she walked to Mac's office, literally bumping into Jess as she walked from the office "Jeez sorry Jess" she bit her lower lip and patted Jess on the shoulder before folding up the newspaper and looking over Jess' shoulder in through the glass door to see her new boss "Ew not hot stuff!" she made a face at Jess and knocked lightly on Mac's door "Hi Mac, thought I'd introduce myself, I guess my Lieu probably told you I'd be spending my time in your office"

Danny saw Jess leaving Mac's office. He walked over to where she stood and smiled when she looked at him.

"Well, wasn't bad, was it? What did he tell you?"

"Was alright," Jess grinned, "Good even." She paused, trying to sum up for Danny what had gone down in Mac's office. "He said that there's a lot to learn and that it's going to be difficult at times, but that there's a lot of good people here." Jess paused again, before continuing, "I think that the basic gist was if I put the work in, the results will come out."

She shrugged, smiling at Danny, still a little nervous but considerably more relaxed and talkative than before now. "He also said that I'm to shadow someone for the rest of the shift to get a feel for the place and the work."

Danny felt Jess becoming more and more comfortable. "So why don't you become my shadow for today? I can show you the things, which are important."

"That would be great... just so long as you're sure that you don't mind?" Jess questioned, having been hoping that he might offer, but not wanting to trouble him.

"Hey, I really like to show you some things. Let's go to the lab. I can show you some tools and how to use them, okay?" Danny suggested and hoped she would answer with 'yes'.

Jess grinned, "Sounds great," and followed Danny down the corridor.

Danny led Jess to the lab and opened the door for her. "Here it is, our crime lab."

Danny said with a smile on his face. He closed the door behind him. "So what do you want to see first?"

"Whoa..." Jess was somewhat taken aback by the size and the busyness of the place, but couldn't help but grin when she set eyes on a whole lot of equipment that she'd only ever read about in textbooks.

"Everything... anything..." Jess couldn't wipe the grin off her face, honestly just wanting to learn about everything all at once.

"Okay, then let's start with the fingerprints." Danny took all the tools he needed to collect a print. He pushed his thumb on the desk to leave a print. "Okay, here's my print, but it's invisible. Take the brush and the dusting powder." Danny watched Jess making the print visible. "Okay now collect it and we can put it into the AFIS"

Jess couldn't help but laugh a little as she expertly took Danny's finger-print and took it over to the computer to put it into AFIS, not having the heart to tell Danny that she'd spent the past three years studying forensics. "I have done a bit of this before, y'know," she smiled playfully.

"I'm not telling you anything new, am I? Man, I'm an idiot. I should've known that you know something about science yet." Danny said. "Okay, tell me. What do you know? Just in order to save me from explaining something you already know, okay?"

Jess smiled, blushing slightly, "I did a lot of forensic science in my degree. Sure, not so much on the practical side, but I guess I have a decent text-book knowledge." She shrugged, "I guess some things are probably different this side of the Atlantic as well."

"Text-book is the one thing, but the most important is the practical side on this. It's important that you know what do when you're at a crime scene." Danny explained when suddenly his cell phone rang. "Messer." Danny finished the call after a minute.

"We have a crime scene. I think it's your lucky day today."

"Hey, don't worry. I'll help you." Danny said as they went to the car. Some minutes later Danny stopped the car in front of a high building. "Show time" He said to Jess and gave her a smile to encourage her a bit.

"Bring it on," Jess laughed, calming her nerves and looking upwards at the building. "What floor are we looking at?"

"No floor. We need to go up on the roof." He said and the two of them left the car. They entered the building and made their way up to the roof. "I wonder what we have to expect up there."

Jess looked up once more, shielding her eyes from the sun. "That's quite a hike. Let's just hope the lifts are still working!" She then headed up with Danny and out onto the roof, slightly surprised by the sheer quantity of uniformed officers already up there. Amongst them all lay a body prone on the concrete.

Jess turned to Danny, waiting to follow his lead.

Randi sighed wiping her forehead and squinting in the bright sun as Danny and Jess approached them "Young female, looks to be about 20 years old, blunt force trauma to the head and a gun shot wound to the abdomen...Flacks talking to the building's super, he found her about an hour ago and called us"

"Jess, you can take the photos if you want to" Danny said and handed over the camera. He turned back to Randi and asked. "We have a ID on her yet?"

Randi shook her head and sighed as she looked down at him "No ID, purse or even a cell, pretty unusual for a girl her age right?" she asked softly looking at the young girl sadly "It's such a waste, she's so beautiful"

"This can't be the crime scene. There's not enough blood. When she lived here in this building, we have to find her apartment."

"Flack's onto it, he'll let us know when he finds out...I'm gonna go check on him alright" she told them before telling two of the uniformed officers to stay with Danny and Jess. She walked across the roof to the door

Jess snapped off photos of the scene, taking no chances and photographing absolutely everything, at least twice. She tried not to think too much about the lost potential lying before her and just concentrated on doing her job.

Once she had finished taking the initial photographs, Jess went back over to Danny, who was just finishing off with Randi. "Any thoughts?" she questioned.

"She wasn't shot here, because here's not enough blood. Well, I'm wondering why someone would kill a 20 year-old girl." Danny said to Jess. "There's always a motive and almost everytime it's money, grudge or jealousy."

"Danny!" Randi called from the door to the roof "Apartment number 22A,I'm onto the interviews with Flack if you guys don't need me up here for anything else?"

"No. Jess and I are doin' fine up here. When we're ready here we went to that apartment. 22A did you say?" Danny called.

"We examine the roof and then we'll go downstairs, okay?" He said to Jess.

Randi nodded and turned back around on the stairs to go back downstairs into the apartment block "Yeah 22A" she called back to him over her shoulder before going to find Flack

"I often wonder why anyone would want to kill anyone else," Jess shrugged a youthful idealism clearly still present within her. She bent down to examine the position of the body in more detail whilst Danny confirmed the apartment number with Randi.

"Sounds like a plan," Jess got to her feet as Danny made the suggestion.

"You found anything on her?" Danny asked when Jess finished checking the details on the Vic. "She didn't defend her self, did she?"

"No defensive wounds, no ID or anything in her pockets. No wallet, no cell-phone... "Jess mused out-loud.

"No defensive wounds would maybe suggest that she knew her attacker or was taken by surprise... but then why would she not have anything on her? It would look like a mugging gone badly if there were defensive wounds, but there aren't..." Jess spoke quietly with her brow was furrowed in thought as she looked to Danny for a possible explanation that she might have missed.

Danny listened to Jess' report carefully, trying to get all of the information. "We have to check her apartment. If we find no traces of someone broke in, she might have known her attacker. It has to be someone she trusted. Let's go and check it." He said to Jess and packed all the things.

He told the uniformed officer to wait until the ME came and took the corpse.

Jess helped Danny to pack up and followed him down to the apartment. Uniformed officers had already sealed off the area with the familiarly yellow crime scene tape that Jess ducked under to go in through the door.

Together with Jess Danny entered the apartment. He put down the equipment and checked the door. "The lock isn't damaged. She must have let him in. You found something on the windows?" He asked Jess who examined the window frames.

"They look clean to me," Jess commented, having checked every window thoroughly, "There's certainly no sign that anyone has been through them. If they had, they'd have had to use the fire-escape... not such a good idea..." Jess looked down at a rickety set of stairs and ladders that seemed to have been bodged together to satisfy health inspectors.

"So we can be sure that she let her attacker in." Danny concluded. "I check her bedroom. You take the living-room? Look in every drawer." Danny said and went into the Vic's bedroom.

He saw blood splatter on the wall and a huge stain on the floor. "Hey Jess. I found the crime scene. She was shot in the bedroom."

Jess searched through the drawers without finding anything noteworthy before heading into the bedroom with Danny.

"Whoa..." was the only word that crossed her lips as she saw the blood spatter and pool of blood. It took her a few seconds just to take in the scene in front of her; she had definitely never seen anything like this before; before re-gathering her composure.

"The bullet wound looked like a through and through, so I'd guess that we're looking for a helpful bit of metal?"

Danny looked around and searched for a hole. "I think I have it." He said and pointed at the shelf. The bullet pierced the spine of a book. Danny pulled it out.

"Looks like she studied law." Danny said and handed the book over to Jess.

Jess took the book carefully in her gloved hands and bagged it; adding it to the evidence that they had previously collected.

Thoughtfully, she took a few steps backwards, taking note of the blood spatter and then lined up an imaginary shot.

"Perp. would have had to have been standing about in the doorway," she noted, continuing to think out loud, "but if you've shot someone, why would you want to smack them over the head as well?"

"That's what we have to find out. If she wasn't dead after the first shot, everyone would shoot again. Why beat her?" Danny asked, but didn't expect an answer.

"Here's a photo of her. This could be her boyfriend." Danny said and pointed at a man who was standing beside the victim. "I could imagine that he's the killer." Danny suggested. "He visits his girlfriend at her apartment. They went into her bedroom and he killed her. But why? Why kill her and then lay her down on the roof?"

Jess didn't have any answers to Danny's questions. At present, there were more questions than answers filling her mind. 'Just concentrate on the evidence', she mentally told herself, turning back to Danny.

"So, what's our next move?"

"We're through with this, I think. Flack should find out the name of this guy here and perhaps he got to know something from the neighbors." Danny said and packed the equipment. "Then we go back to the lab and analyze the evidence."

Jess nodded, packed up her kit and fell in-line behind Danny in search of Flack.

Danny and Jess found Flack in the entry hall, talking to Randi. They went over to them and Danny reported what he and Jess had found.

"Anything from the neighbors?"

"Sounds like a good kid," Danny mused thoughtfully, "We'll get back to the lab and see if we can get any answers." Turning off his professional mode for an instant, he smiled at Randi, "And I might see you later?"

Jess, meanwhile, noted down everything that Randi was saying before following Danny back out to the car. "To the lab?" she questioned.

"To the lab," he confirmed.

Randi nodded slowly as Danny smiled at her "I'll be around the lab later, should be home around 7 if you wanna stop by, bring food" she smirked before climbing into her car

After Randi had gone, Jess and Danny had headed of to the lab in order to analyze the evidence they had collected. The two of them had worked about 2 hours when Jess told Danny to go. She had wanted to keep up working a bit. So Danny had left the lab and went home to take a shower and get changed.

Now he was standing in front of Randi's apartment door, holding a bag with Chinese food in his hand.

Randi grabbed onto the handle of the door and pulled it open as she tripped over a book on the floor "Crap" she sighed picking up the offending object from the floor and motioning Danny inside "Wha'cha bring me to eat?"

"Chinese. Thought we should have something different this time. Everytime we sit together we eat pizza. It's the time to get another dinner." He said, being not sure if it was the right decision to bring Chinese food.

"You know I'll eat anything" she smirked going to the kitchen for plates and cutlery. Sitting down onto the sofa and putting the plates on the coffee table in front of them before spooning the food out onto the plates

"Randi, I'm really glad you like it, but could it be possible that I can get just a little bit of it?" Danny said laughing. "What do you say about your first day?"

Randi rolled her eyes smirking "If you must" she spooned some food out onto his plate and grinned as she sat back "It was interesting...good" she nodded, eating "It was good"

"And what do you think about Jess? She's a nice girl, isn't she?" Danny asked and when he saw Randi glaring at him, he added faster "Hey, I just think she's nice, okay? I won't start flirting with her or anything like that. I love my country girl, right?"

Randi bobbed her head up and down as she spooned the food into her mouth. Swallowing before turning to him "She's a nice girl and I hope you're loving your country girl after all you put me through"

"I do, I really do, Randi. So you found the hot stuff in the lab you were looking for?" Danny asked her with a big smile on his face.

Randi chuckled and nodded "Most of the lads are pretty cute, I gotta say" she grinned

"I see, you got into it very well, didn't you?" Danny said. "You have beer around here?"

She grinned and wagged her eyebrows at him "Of course I did, no point wasting valuable time" she smiled as she jabbed a thumb in the direction of the fridge

"That's you. Never waste much time, hm?" Danny said and went into the kitchen. "You want some, too?"

"Nope" she grinned "Not when my romantic life is on the lines" she chuckled to herself as she ate and nodded, although he couldn't see it "I'll just have a soda"

"Hey, is everything okay with you? You don't want beer?" Danny asked surprised. "Wait, is Jay around?"

"I'd just prefer a soda, I'm fine" she shrugged. She nodded and jabbed a thumb towards the bedrooms "He's in his room, should be anyway, was last time I checked"

"Do you mind if I say hello to him?" Danny asked when he went back to the living room.

"Course not, go ahead" she smiled taking the soda can from him.

Jay glanced up as Danny poked his head around the door of his bedroom and removed the head phones he was wearing "Hey Danny"

"Hey. How you're doin'?" Danny said and hugged Jay softly.

Jay grinned as Danny hugged him and shrugged "I'm okay, what ya doing here?" he asked softly

"Having dinner with your mom. Just some Chinese." Danny explained. "We do that sometimes after work. Eating and talking."

Jay nodded "I know you do" he nodded slowly as he turned back to his computer "Ya see what my dad got me?" he asked, grinning as he passed over a guitar to Danny for him to look at "It's really cool, got an amp and everything"

"You can play on this?" Danny asked. "I really like to play the guitar. If you want to I can show you some tricks."

"My Uncle Matty's been showing me, but I can't really play yet" he shrugged then grinned and nodded at Danny "That'd be cool" he smiled

"Great, but we have to ask your mom first, okay?" Danny said. "If she says 'yes', I'll give you some guitar lessons. You could spend a weekend over at my place, in case you're interested and Randi agrees."

Jay nodded "She won't mind" he shrugged. He glanced at Danny and sighed before shaking his head "I can't spend weekends with you cause that's when I go stay with my Dad and Kim" he shrugged lightly "But we could do it during the week, my school is close to you're apartment and i'll only be staying with mom then, she won't mind"

"Oh, okay. I tell your mom about my shifts. I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun." Danny said. "Is there a special song you really would like to play?"

"Okay" Jay grinned, nodding before shaking his head "No, just wanna learn how to play" he shrugged

Randi poked her head around the door "C'mon you two, dinner's ready" she smiled softly

Danny followed Jay out of the room. "Hey, wasn't my Chinese not enough for you?" Danny asked.

"You're Chinese _is_ dinner" she chuckled "You hardly think i'm spending my time making dinner now do you?"

"Yeah, I understand. But Jay needs something to eat. Perhaps I bring some more next time" Danny said and sat down.

"There's enough for all of us" Randi smiled motioning for them to sit at the table before carrying the three plates through to the living room

Danny took the plate Randi was giving him. "Thanks" He said and started eating. "So you don't mind if Ja and I spend sometime together?"

Randi placed the second plate in front of Jay and looked from one to the other "What're you wanting to spend together for?"

Jay shrugged and beamed over at her as she sat down "Danny's gonna teach me guitar"

Randi glanced across at Danny and bit her bottom lip before shaking her head "No. If that's what you want, I don't mind" she smiled lightly

Danny glanced back at Randi. "It it's _only_ guitar what I'll teach him. Not my _odd manner_ or what ever you would call it."

"That's what I want" he grinned before chuckling at Danny.

Randi rolled her eyes "Although you do have an odd manner, I don't want you teaching him anything other than guitar...just to be safe" she smirked

"How could I?" Danny asked. "You know I'm a nice guy." Danny took another bit of his dinner. "By the way, this is great."

She shrugged lightly "It's you, I don't ask how you do things" she smirked "They jus usually happen." She snorted lightly as Jay laughed "Nice guy..."

She nodded in reply "Sure is. Where'd you pick it up?"

"You know this Chinese restaurant some buildings away from my apartment? I always get my Chinese food there. He's the best in New York"

"Not the guy with the rats?" Randi frowned, the fork poised halfway to her mouth "Cause if it is Dan, you're dead. I told ya never to buy anything outta there again. I was dying for like two weeks after we ate outta there"

"What do ya think of me? Don't know how you feel, but I'm not weary of life." Danny said, playing to be puffed up. "If you don't believe me, I'll show you the time you visit me again."

"I think you're an idiot that would go back there again because it's closer to my place than any clean take away" she smiled sweetly and then chuckled as he puffed out his chest. She glanced at Jay, made a face and then cackled as Jay did too "Whatever Dan"

"Hey Jay. Do not listen to her, okay? She just tries to make me look bad." Danny said to Jay. "I'm not an idiot, no matter what she will tell you after I left"

Randi snorted "I don't haveta try. You do that all by yourself Messer" she chuckled as she cleared away their plates while the boys took to hopping to the sofa to play video games "Where's Lindsay tonight anyways?" she called from the kitchen as she washed up the dishes and put them away.

"Lindsay wanted a quiet night," Danny shrugged as he began playing a racing game with Jay and was immediately caught up in the action. "Said she wanted to phone home and get caught up with her folks."

As the first race came to an end, he smirked at Jay, "You have definitely been practicing too much since I last came round."

Jay smirked and glanced over at him "Yeah well you never come round. 'sides I've been playing Flack and he always looses and wants ' one more game' " he grinned mimicking Flack before chuckling as he shoved Danny and whipped up the control again for another game.

Randi rolled her eyes and carried through two bowls of ice cream and a container. Passing the bowls to the boys before sitting down with the container and the remains to eat to herself.

Danny rolled his eyes at Jay as he clasped the controller. "If you spent half as much time on your school-work as on this thing, you'd get great grades." He laughed as the next race started and glanced up at Randi bringing the ice-cream though. "Am I starting to sound like your mum now?"

He smirked in Randi's direction as he spoke, taking the bowl as the race ended with Danny this time victorious. "Thanks."

Jay cackled and raised an eyebrow at Danny "Nope. Not even Mom sounds that much like a looser" he smirked. He dropped the controller, pouted and took the bowl as Randi passed it over "Thanks ma"

Randi frowned, smacking him lightly into the head "Shut it. I'm not a looser" She slouched back into the chair to eat and pointed the spoon at Jay "And don't call me 'ma' You're starting to sound like him" she pointed the spoon in Danny's direction and frowned at them both again

Danny tucked into the ice-cream and rolled his eyes at Jay. "Hey, c'mon, I'm not a loser!"

He tossed the game controller back over to Jay as he enjoyed the ice-cream. "I guess we'll have to have a decider in a bit to find out who the real loser is!"

Jay threw himself back into the sofa and cackled "You are too!"

Randi rolled her eyes at them both but smiled to herself at hearing Jay laugh again "You two better finish up soon, ya hear? You need to go to bed. You have school tomorrow" she smiled pointing at Jay before pulling herself up and dumping the empty container onto the table "I'm gonna go tidy up in the bedroom"

Danny nodded and, after one more game, helped Jay to clear up before encouraging him to go bed-wards.

Danny waited outside until he saw the light in Jay's room being switched off and went to find Randi in the room next door. "Jay's gone to bed..." he informed her.

Jay sighed as Danny told him he wouldn't play another game. He nodded, stood and carried some of the dishes to the kitchen with Danny's help before giving Danny a hug and scooting off towards his bedroom.

Randi glanced up from her place on the end of the bed as the bedroom door opened and Danny walked in. She nodded as he spoke of Jay heading off to bed and chuckled lightly as she held up a picture, clasped within her grip "Pictures. Years ago" she smirked. She passed a photograph to him of her, Aiden and Danny.

Danny smiled as he saw the photo in Randi's hands. "Now that was a good summer," he laughed gently. He looked at Randi questioningly though as he noticed how she clasped onto the picture.

"Never had you as the nostalgic type..." he simply stated. "Want to tell me what's going on in that head of yours?"

She nodded, chuckling as he laughed and glanced up as she felt eyes on her "Whatever" she smirked nudging him with her arm as she snatched the picture back to smile at it again.

Giving a simple shrug, she smiled "Just miss those times. Happy times. The three of us together. We don't do it anymore. Just us"

"We could do it though, nothing's stopping us," Danny shrugged, stating the obvious simply.

"Seriously, we should. The three musketeers back having fun or whatever. These newbies don't quite get in - I'll teach Lindsay one day though!"

"Those times have passed Dan." she sighed softly "It's not just us and Aiden anymore. It's you and someone, me and someone and Aiden and whoever she's dating now" she smirked.

She nodded lightly "We should. But we've got too much going on in all our lives. We're running parallel lives to each other now"

Danny gave Randi a disbelieving look as she wearily sighed. "Who says those times have passed!? I'm sure none of our respective partners would mind if we had an evening out once in a while. Heck, they could even join in. We can make time for that kind of thing."

"Look... okay..." It was now Danny's turn to sigh - apparently it was contagious, "even if we don't go out or away or something, all three of us are working in the lab now... " he grinned, "and trust me, we've got Mac, Stella, Loreia, Adam, Sid, Hawkes, Jess or Lindsay all surely crying out for a bit of fun!"

"Those times are over Messer" she snorted "You do realize that our respective partners are weary of us all getting close right. I mean we dated, I'm sure whoever we're dating at the time would just love us going away together" she smirked

"I'm working downstairs, just a lucky once off when I get to the labs" she pouted. "But I guess we could get Mac to let us off for a while. Week for vacation? You, me and Aiden." she shrugged "Can't see Mac having a problem with the three of you getting off and I'll bully Cap into it"

"Sounds like a plan," Danny grinned, "I dread to think what kind of state we'd find the lab in when we got back, but I'm definitely up for a bit of a road-trip. Have a decent amount of vacation time as well, so a week wouldn't be a problem for me, just so long as Mac's cool with it."

Danny smiled, clearly excited about the prospect of a return of the good old times, admittedly now a bit different but still... there was plenty of opportunity for fun.

She grinned back and nodded as she passed over a photo album and set it on his lap before pulling another onto hers from the floor and chuckling at the first picture. She nodded lightly as he spoke of a vacation "I'll leave Aiden up to you, she gets crabby after working"

"Thanks for that," Danny chuckled and with a glance at the photos, sighed wearily. "I guess I should be heading back to my place to get a few zs before work again tomorrow."

"You're welcome" she smirked. She glanced around the room. Only now noticing that darkness had set in, dimming the light in the bedroom to almost nothing. She pulled herself up off the floor, sticking the photo's back into a box and shoving it back up onto the top of the wardrobe "Can stay if you want. Spare bed is made up"

Danny considered this offer before shaking his head, "I should probably get back to my place - am starting early in the morning so it'll probably be a good idea to be somewhere where I have all my stuff and the like."

He shrugged and gave Randi a hug, "We will do this vacation though, yeah?"

"Okay" she smiled as she followed him out of the bedroom and down the hall to the front door. She returned the shrug and then the hug, tightening her arms around him "I'll see you in the morning. Be good."

She nodded at the mention of the vacation and smiled "You call Aiden and we'll sort it out. See ya. Love ya"

"I'm always good," Danny smiled and opened the front door. "You're the one who often needs reminding to be good!"

"Sounds like we have another Randi Carter plan taking off!" he grinned and waved as he exited the apartment. "Tell Jay that I'll beat him at that game next time!"

"Ha-ha my sides are splitting" she smirked, sticking out her tongue at him as she pushed him out the door "My baby thinks I'm a very good girl!" she teased, cackling as Danny's smile dropped off his face and turned to a frown.

"Always. A plan ain't a plan without me Messer" she smirked then nodded and waved back "Will do"

"You, a good girl, you gotta be kidding me!" Danny chuckled before heading off down the corridor, already imagining what a vacation would be like with everyone.

He smiled to himself, already starting to make plans.

"You always said I was a good girl!" She called after him, smirking. She cackled as he called back, what could only have been, a Messer smart comment before she closed the apartment door and headed inside.

--

Thanks for reading. This was the beginning of our group when members were just getting accustomed to the writing style. They do get better!

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